llsf

What if I build and manage a dark factory (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lights_out_(manufacturing)) and it produces gizmos.

Since all my competitors are also running dark factories, we compete essentially on source materials + energy (assuming we have similar design/quality). Margin would be eventually razor thin. The dark factory does not make much capital gains, even as it produces 1,000 gizmo per second.

The capital gain is not much , but since we have only a handful of employees, that is enough to pay everyone a decent wage, after paying for the factory itself, source materials and energy.

How much tax do we expect to get from this gizmo company ? 10 years ago, to produce the same gizmos, I needed 5,000 employees, the unit price was way higher, and had higher revenue. But since AI and dark factories came, the prices cratered, instead of 5,000 jobs, we only have 5 jobs to produce the same.

Sure the 4,995 unemployed might be able to afford the gizmo, but the state does not receive the same taxes. So what happens to those 4,995 unemployed people ? who is paying for their health benefits and social security (retirement) ?

I am wondering how best to solve that equation ?

Note that Denmark would have to keep deploying more wind capacity as the country would need more electricity over time (electrification of the transportation, heat, industry, etc.). So, even if some days wind capacity does meets 100% of the electricity demand nowadays, we would need add more capacity.

It takes time between the plan and putting it online. It is mostly due to regulations. Relax the regulations and it would be cheaper and faster.

France is doing something similar now.

Coming out in the late 80's was not easy in most places (maybe easier if you grew up in Manhattan or San Francisco) and AIDS was a death sentence. Lots of lives have been wasted because of the stigma and the disease.

Somehow related, I had to go through my father in-law papers after his death, and I have seen papers that probably were not meant to be seen ever. I am now part of this secret. The weird part is that I feel that I cannot talk about it to anyone in the universe. For the first time in my life, I feel the burden of keeping secret until I die. There is no therapy for it. Now, I understand how some people when tragedy strikes, have to bury it deep, to the point where they forget about it, as it is too painful to even think of it. I am at a point where I do not want to impair (drunk, high) myself and reveal the secret. I thought my life was simple, but man some unfortunate events can flip entire lives... I was a firm believer that talking the truth/facts was the best solution, and now I realize that some things better stay buried as it would generate more pain than anything.

So, some papers might not be good to keep, as you never know what it could unleash after you pass away (and that can happen anytime).

> I would challenge any retail business to beat the 2.5% rate on their cash transactions once the various transit, security and banking fees have been factored in. Those armored trucks don't work for free.

Lots of countries are fine with charge card, connecting directly to their bank account instead of going thru intermediaries. It does not offer the flexibility of the US credit card ecosystem, but lower fees for merchants (and so for end user). It might be a matter of culture and habits. But for some the Visa/MC/Amex fees seem too high, even if most is given back to the end user, it artificially increases the prices (that is why the US Gov. charges me more if I insist on paying my US property taxes with as credit card).

I love science and technology too. I am a bit concerned though that number of people knowing how technology actually works, is shrinking. And with AI, it is going to accelerate that shrinking. How does it end when only an handful of people know how technology effectively works ?

Are we heading to another dark age after a peak technology ?

I cannot wait for the school bus to be a waymo, that could tell the other waymos around that it is full of vulnerable and unpredictable little humans, and to be on the watch out.

Why not use all those forms and prefill my tax form for me ?

If I disagree, I can add/remove/update it. If I agree, I just file

Asking me to collect those documents and reports the different numbers into a form, is not efficient, error prone and time/money consuming.

Same vibes, different frequency...

https://www.etsy.com/ca/listing/1245797052/vintage-60s-phili...

And yet we could regulate even more to make flying even safer, but likely negatively impacting the cost of flying.

This is a balance/tradeoff. We agree for some deaths, for a given price. It is the same for food safety, workplace safety.

With the latest designs and regulations there has been no major issue across all the nuclear facilities, except for Fukushima which sustained a 9 earthquake + a tsunami... and yet hardly any death (in the 10 years after, one death by cancer got compensated but still not clear if it was directly linked... the evacuation itself might be responsible for up to 50 deaths though, showing how the perception of nuclear can be overhyped).

It is possible that the nuclear industry is over-regulated (done mostly after Chernobyl) and could benefit to be reviewed based on the current knowledge.

Regulation still plays a role in the final cost. Sure it has to be safe. But we need to draw the line. Nuclear is arguably way too safe currently (zero death for a long time). Some regulations could be relaxed to speed up the construction, and make the operations cheaper.

We should have a discussion and review all the regulations surrounding nuclear.

A big part of the cost is financing the project. It is capital intensive, and even few interest points more impact a lot the cost over time.

Those project should be finance with the cheapest money possible (usually government backed loans). UK is an example of nuclear getting expensive due to private investment instead of government.

nuf said :) https://open.spotify.com/track/3cbV252akVZInSvJk7jAYX?si=86a...

Could you share this automated message (anonymized if need be) ? Very curious to hear what ground and verbiage was used to close your account.

Unfortunately Sonic does not cover the whole bay, and certainly not all SF. I am still waiting for Sonic to cover the heart of the City (Eureka Valley).

Does Monkeybrains offer fiber now ?

I have been a customer for 14 years now. Would love to move to higher bandwidth.

Okay maybe I am an outlier, but when I vacuum my place (1400 sqft), it takes about 1hr. I fill half of the container with dust. I am kinda thorough, maybe borderline OCD :)

And so I need a vacuum that is not going to lose power, so I am happy to stay corded, with full sucking power all the way.

I can see the Pencil useful for a quick limited vacuuming.

Congratulations and happy to have contributed to reach that milestone !

This product has so much potential.

I have a Dyson DC15 (https://www.dyson.com/support/vacuum-cleaners/uprights/dc15) purchased in 2006. Using it once a week (with few exceptions here and there) for nearly 20 years now, and working perfectly fine.

Yes, it is heavy, and corded, but it is a beast, and still amazed at how much dust it gets every week.

I have to admit that I am not impressed at all by the latest Dyson cordless versions, including the new Dyson PencilVac (https://www.dyson.com/discover/innovation/new-machines/penci...).

And exit tax...

The most brain intensive activity I ever did at school, happened in the very last two years (so, ~20 years at school lead to it), when I rubbed my brain to Lambda Prolog.

I almost had headaches after intense thinking of problems and ways to solve them in lambda prolog. That was the most interesting and satisfying to physically feel the effect of high focus combined with applying what was a new logic.

Computer science at the university, taught me how to learn and explore new ideas. I might sound like my grandpa who told me when I was 8yo that using calculator would lead to people not able to count... and here I am saying that LLM might lead to people who do not know how to write.

Actually, I am a bit concern that we might produce more text in the short term because it is becoming cheap to write tons of documentation with LLMs. But those feel like death by Terms and Conditions, i.e. text that no one reads. So not only we would lose our ability to write, but we can seriously affect our ability to read. Sure LLM can summarize as well, but then we lose the nuances.

Nature is lazy, but should we be lazy and delegate our ability to think (read/write), to a software ? Think about it :)

Made me think of Jean-Jacques Rousseau "Reveries d'un promeneur solitaire" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reveries_of_the_Solitary_Walke...

When letting our mind wandering (and walking actually helps me to remove some distractions) can bring some peace and eventually some new perspective.

You might consider adding a starlink mini in your emergency kit, if not already. As terrestrial communications would be affected in the area.

Natural language is poor medium at communicating rules and orders. The current state of affair in US is a prime example.

We are still debating what some laws and amendments mean. The meaning of words change over time, lack of historical context, etc.

I would love natural language to operate machines, but I have been programming since mid 80's and the stubbornness of the computer languages (from BASIC, to go) strikes a good balance, and puts enough responsibility on the emitter to precisely express what he wants the machine to do.

No skin in the game. Looking at the old one https://www.mta.info/map/36946 vs. the new one https://www.mta.info/map/5256, and not being a New Yorker, I would prefer the old map as it allows me to appreciate the distances and contextualize more.

But I can see a New Yorker preferring the new map to get just the subway lines and connections.

That article scared me. The Cascadia Fault is a scary one. We are not (and arguably cannot really) prepared for an earthquake of that magnitude.

PTSD. I was that guy dragging his bagpack everywhere. A drink at a bar on Saturday ? Sunday lunch with the in-laws ? with my bag pack, ready to bust the laptop in case of emergency.

My two personal lows... I had to pull the laptop at my own birthday party, in a restaurant. And at a funeral (not proud on that one).

So sad.

Since we are talking about spelling, it is "hors d'œuvre" and not "hors d'oeuvre".

On macos: Option + q for œ

"Your margin is my opportunity"